FC Groningen vs Aston Villa

[villa `cross the mersey]

The club is a shambles both on and off the park - Lambert appears as clueless as ever and the owner doesn`t give a flying *uck.
Its going to be a long painful season ahead - if Vlaar is sold then we know Lerner is looking to haul in his investment as much as he can.
we may not be as lucky this year -i.e. thay may not be 3 teams worse than us.
When we are not willing to compete with Stoke, Swansea and Hull ffs you realise the time is up.
As fans of other teams say - "Aston Villa FC- what is the point"?
OK we have lost two friendlies - big deal , however its the manner in which we are losing - there is no desire, passion, shape or even basic tactics - such as how to defend, compete in midfield and as for trying to score without forwards- that  is just pathetic.
Is there anyone out there who still thinks Lambert is the right man for the job?

[olaftab]

Well it's all about fitness at this stage. Player and tactical inadequacy can be corrected over 38 games. We ONLY need 38 points so I see no problem in this team getting there by the 37th game and we celebrate  another season in the premier League with vigour at the final home game against Burnley.

[PeterWithesShin]

Well it's all about fitness at this stage. Player and tactical inadequacy can be corrected over 38 games. We ONLY need 38 points so I see no problem in this team getting there by the 37th game and we celebrate  another season in the premier League with vigour at the final home game against Burnley.

I hope we get flags!

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Jet lag ??

[dave shelley]

Then we have to hope that we can overcome how absolutely, unquestionably, fucking useless Lambert is at picking and organising a side.

I stuck with Lambert through the first season and a chunk of the second, but I am increasingly starting to think he's an absolute chancer and genuinely doesn't know what he's doing.

I'm a bit like that Paulie, I was prepared to stick with him hoping that he'd just had a run of bad luck but, no, I think he doesn't have it.

I try not to comment too much on individual players because I don't see them play live regularly, but last year I got to see them play in Dublin and in that match Baker was terrible.  Carruthers didn't impress me either nor did Bacuna to be honest but at least he was new to the club so he could be cut some slack.  If I could see Baker couldn't cut it in a friendly then Lambert seeing it for a full season (two now at this stage) and continuing to play him is justification for the sack alone.  I hate having to say that. 

I still do not understand what went wrong that we couldn't maintain the little bit of progress we made from the second half of Lambert's first season.  I guess we'll have to wait until he's bulleted and the book comes out.

[pauliewalnuts]

and we celebrate  another season in the premier League with vigour at the final home game against Burnley.

SIX POINTER!

[PeterWithesShin]

I reckon Bent ate Grant Holt. Think about it, has anyone seen Grant Holt recently?

[TheTimVilla]

I have a horrible feeling that we won't win the league this season.

Well, who's a Negative Nancy? We're second already. Champions League form, that. West Brom are screwed. The table never lies.

[supertom]

What bugged me today as much as anything is how inept Lambert is.
Any time Groningen came into our half, we back off and gave them time. Conversely, almost every time we reached the half way line, they closed us down very quickly and as a result we created almost nothing. You'd think Lambert would have changed tactic a bit and tried to do to them, what was working for them against us. Of course, he did nothing and continued to let us sit deep and try and break quickly as if we're playing Chelsea or Man City, as opposed to the mediocre Dutch side we really were.

We were utterly hopeless going forward. The movement, the passing, the intention to attack, aside from 2-3 players, it was non existent. Given had as much of the ball at his feet than our front 3 in the first half probably.

Again, that disjointed three central strikers in the first hour, before eventually finishing with no front man was another example of utter ineptitude. Even playing a side without a striker, giving us more midfield options, we still couldn't string more than 5 passes together.

[tomd2103]

Then we have to hope that we can overcome how absolutely, unquestionably, fucking useless Lambert is at picking and organising a side.

I stuck with Lambert through the first season and a chunk of the second, but I am increasingly starting to think he's an absolute chancer and genuinely doesn't know what he's doing.

I reached that conclusion towards the end of last season.  The subsequent issue with his assistants and the total reversal on the 'bomb squad' suggests to me a manager who is just hanging on with no real rational thinking or plan on how to take things forward.  That's before you even take the performances on the pitch into consideration.   

[sirlordbaltimore]

Zog, Richardson and maybe Hutton for his attacking play are pretty much the only players to get any credit from that game.

To be honest, I thought Richardson was dreadful. Not on his own mind

I'll let Zog off. Hutton wasn't the worst

[kippaxvilla2]

The club is a shambles both on and off the park - Lambert appears as clueless as ever and the owner doesn`t give a flying *uck.
Its going to be a long painful season ahead - if Vlaar is sold then we know Lerner is looking to haul in his investment as much as he can.
we may not be as lucky this year -i.e. thay may not be 3 teams worse than us.
When we are not willing to compete with Stoke, Swansea and Hull ffs you realise the time is up.
As fans of other teams say - "Aston Villa FC- what is the point"?
OK we have lost two friendlies - big deal , however its the manner in which we are losing - there is no desire, passion, shape or even basic tactics - such as how to defend, compete in midfield and as for trying to score without forwards- that  is just pathetic.
Is there anyone out there who still thinks Lambert is the right man for the job?

Think positive if Vlaar is sold it'll knock 8m off the asking price for the club.

[supertom]

Zog, Richardson and maybe Hutton for his attacking play are pretty much the only players to get any credit from that game.

To be honest, I thought Richardson was dreadful. Not on his own mind

I'll let Zog off. Hutton wasn't the worst

I love how Richardson comes in and he states "I've been bought in to play left back."
Pre-season comes and we've not really seen him play left back and today he spent much of the game playing right wing. Lamberts off his bloody rocker.

[curlytailavfc]

my season ticket landed today and after reading about this game Im thinking this will be another long haul under Lambert

[Damo70]

It is a pre season friendly and we had a number of our best players missing for various reasons. I didn't see the game so I only know the scoreline. I will reserve judgement until the season starts and the transfer window ends. But if we don't actually pay a transfer fee for any player this summer then we really will know where we stand. Also, despite the obvious lack of big financial support from above I really do think another manager could get more from this group of players. The one question I have is if there is a point in the season where we are in big trouble, will the owner be prepared to replace the manager or presume that we will stay up based on the fact he has pulled it off in the last two years.